1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image transfer device, and more specifically to a device for the transfer of a toner image from an image forming medium to a receiving material, while thoroughly cleaning an intermediate image support.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,947 describes a contact fixing device in which a toner image is transferred from an image forming medium to a heated intermediate. Subsequently, in a fixing zone in which the intermediate is in contact with a pressure member, the toner image is transferred to and simultaneously fixed on a receiving material being transported through the fixing zone. After the transfer of the toner image to the receiving material, the intermediate is cleaned by a cleaning member having a cleaning surface to which toner adheres better than to the intermediate. This type of cleaning member functions well in removing high-melting impurities, such as residues of toner material and also paper dust. However, low-melting impurities, such as plastic filling agents occurring in receiving paper and also dust particles of plastic receiving materials, are not at all or only partly picked up by the known cleaning member. When such impurities are not completely removed from the intermediate, they will reach the first transfer zone between the image forming medium and the intermediate, where they may be transferred to the image forming medium. This causes a disturbance of the image forming and, in the end, faulty images in the copy on the receiving material.